Dancing Queen
by Tatl Tael
Summary: The rush was what he lived for, the spotlight was what he thrived upon. The eyes upon him? They were his life essence. Without that weight he felt naked, incomplete. [ A modern tale of Ganymede and Zues ]


Disclaimer: Characters belong to me. Songs are credited as follows: Lady Marmalade (Christina Aguilera, Mya, Pink, Lil' Kim), Dancing Queen (Abba), Hella Good (No Doubt)

Notes: The myth I based this on is Zues/Ganymede. I chose to write this to challenge myself at keeping a single descriptive tone throughout an entire piece of literature. I have a bad habit of slipping into my own, casual tone, a few paragraphs in. My other goal was to avoid keeping character descriptions all bunched into one paragraph. I tried to distribute scenery and personal descriptions accordingly, to avoid an overload of information (another bad habbit). Also, writing this I found I could not fit all I wanted into one short story, in the time frame given (it was writing for an English class). I'm still putsing around with the idea of actually making a 'part two'.

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**Dancing Queen** Part 1

Eyes are heavy things to burden someone with. It was no wonder people could always feel them upon their backs. So heavy, he could feel them upon his body, so many eyes he was almost crumbling under the pressure. He was used to the sensation, and still a nervous bead of sweat found itself meandering down the bridge of his nose. A few others followed it, leaving sparkling trails across his skin and down his exposed forearms. He loved it, loved everything about it.

The rush was what he lived for, the spotlight was what he thrived upon. The eyes upon him? They were his life essence. Without that weight he felt naked, incomplete. He could not function without thrill of attention, for he knew he was beautiful, and no form of humbleness could be found within him, not if one searched every inch of his bare soul. Of course, he still believed in modesty, for he was a polite person, but modesty and being humble were, really, completely different things.

Anyone who saw those curly chestnut-brown locks of his in the mirror, each morning when he woke, would find it impossible to find any notable amount of self-doubt within himself. Those dark blue eyes made him famous, and that baby face made him loveable. Firm biceps made him admirable, and his lithe figure made him desirable. How could one be shy, with the body of a sex-god? It did not happen. Insecurities; he had none.

So it was with a confident aura about him that he moved on the dance floor. Cotton brushed leather and suede, as the fabric of his white button-up shirt clung to his skin. The cuffs had been rolled up and were held in place with safety pins. When one had looks to rival Venus' beauty, functionality came before fashionality. There was nothing he 'looked best in', everything just looked best on him. Wearing nothing but a barrel he could have filled up a month's worth of Friday nights, and then some.

Of course that didn't put him off fashion completely. The blue eye shadow painted on his 'lids surely had no practical function, nor did the strawberry lip gloss delicately smeared across his lips. He wouldn't have looked any less attractive without the modest amount of makeup, but it didn't do anything to dim his godly aura either. Nothing could do that. A smear of lipstick across his forehead might have looked a touch silly, but he still would have been beautiful nonetheless, and no one would have laughed.

Needless to say that, among the throng of raving lunatics around him, he stood out. Dressed in work cloths, slightly rumpled as they were, the white fabric of his shirt stood out against the sea of black leather and shiny polyester. No one seemed to be bothered enough with his state of overdress to stop their staring, for among the exposed bellies and other bare body parts, he did seem quite modest in comparison. His dancing made up for that.

They all knew that, which is why all eyes were on him. A girl dressed in a fairly unmentionable outfit looked over her boyfriend's shoulder to watch him, trying her hardest not to bring the subject of her wandering eyes to her partner's attention. This was all while aforementioned boyfriend watched the unearthly beauty in one of the giant mirrors that covered all four walls. The bouncers at the door had to put tremendous effort into doing their job, with such a wondrously tempting distraction nearby. It goes without saying a few dangerous weapons and unscrupulous characters slipped past the doors this night.

However, the most important set of eyes whose weight fell upon him that night were probably the hazel orbs situated upon one of the couches located against the walls. Around these eyes sat many people, men and women alike, perched on the arms of the sofa, on the cushions, upon the floor; all lounging around him. While the blue-eyed wonder was the most beautiful, it was unquestionable the brown eyed one was the most handsome. With a face that looked like it was carved out of marble, this fact was undisputed.

As a matter of fact, the man himself was undisputed by all but a few. The head honcho of one of NYC's largest corporation, any who trifled with him once were sure to never repeat the offense. Rumor was the only person alive who could exert any sort of influence upon him was his wife. Now currently wrapped around her husbands arm, she seemed very discontented, to say the least. The rest of the groupies had all shifted over towards their boss's side, uneasy. An unhappy Hera, as was her name, was almost as dangerous as an unhappy Zues, who at the moment looked anything but upset, and was undoubtedly completely unaware of his wife's intense glaring.

A few strands of hair had escaped the leather tie holding the rest of them back. As it fell in his eyes he seemed unaware, looking beyond the dirty blond tress, gaze glued upon the dance floor; or more importantly, the person upon it. Fascination - there was no other word for the look in his eyes, and if the look didn't prove it, the fact he'd been staring at this unearthly being for over an hour certainly did. Not that he was anything special, most of the people present in the room had been admiring him ever since he had arrived a few hours ago at dusk. The hour was now approaching eleven 'o clock.

Zeus was not jealous of many people; why should he be? He had everything he could ever truly want, or he had, until the evening found him. Now he was very jealous. Jealous of the woman currently attached to the object of his obvious desire. She'd been with him for three songs, only because she had been the first to work up enough courage to ask him to dance, and the rest of the room were still working up theirs. He had been dancing alone, before that, for a good two hours, and did a mighty good job of it as well.

Well, that was quite enough of that. Shrugging off his wife without so much as a second thought he rose from his seat. His groupies shifted, allowing him passage away from the wall and onto the intensely populated dance floor. This fetching creature was going to be his. There was nothing Zeus wanted that Zeus could not get.

It helped of course, that the girl his target was dancing with was an employee. Well, she was, but probably wouldn't be, for much longer. Snicker. It was fun, being an all-powerful prick. His heeled dress shoes clicked on the floor as he approached, as a path was made for him. If no one had moved, it was undoubted he would have stepped on more than a few toes. Thankfully he was saved the trouble, for it would have scuffed his shoes.

One swift movement - that was all it took to swap places with the female. One movement and Blue-Eyes was all his. Slipping a hand around the long fingers of his Blue-Eyes he spun the beauty around to face him. A bewildered blink greeted him. Until the gravity of all the eyes upon him again pulled him under, that is. Under what? He would have liked to know himself. It was unmistakable that he was drowning in something; he just didn't know what. Maybe it was the hazel eyes that, though they appeared out of nowhere, he couldn't take his own eyes off of. So incredibly deep, he couldn't pull himself to shore. Drowning. Drowning until he was pulled into the strong scent of cologne and the familiar feel of cotton.

Zeus was adorned in an outfit almost identical to his, he noticed. However, his sleeves had been left down, and only the single topmost button had been left undone on his shirt, where as he had several he had apparently neglected while dressing that morning. It was nice, to be in an embrace where one's clothes did not hang on just as well as the partners themselves. He grew tired of the polyester static, and sticky leather.

_Voulez vous coucher avec moi ce soir  
Voulez vous coucher avec moi_

These lyrics blasted out of the oversized speakers placed about the room. With them he sunk completely, and any hope of rescue was improbable and unwelcome. Beneath the expensive cologne he could smell the scent of this man, and decided he liked it. He fell, easily enough, into position with a faint smile. No words were exchanged; no words were needed. It was a dance. Idle banter gave him a headache.

At first the movements were slow, as each party got the feel for the other. What happened then? It escalated into mind blowing rhythm. Bodies fell into sync, and arms wrapped and unwrapped, hands wandering in a very questionable manner. They looked like old lovers upon the floor, as familiar with each other as the sun was with the sky. It was a seductive dance, inappropriate enough that the bouncers might have stepped in, were they not actively trying to avoid looking at the two. Abruptly a line from an old Broadway show flitted through Zeus' mind. _You are the dancing queen, young and sweet, only seventeen_. Dancing queen. Indeed he was.

Hera was not impressed. That wandering eye of her husband, it had always been troublesome. It was not that there wasn't any love in their marriage, no, that was not the problem. In truth she didn't know what the problem was. Nonetheless, it was a great vexation. Even more vexing was the fact she could do nothing about him. That wasn't to say she couldn't do anything about the tramps that tempted her husband down the path of the unfaithful. She would make that boy pay.

_Made the savage beast inside  
Roar until he cried_

Of course, the target of her anger was completely oblivious to the danger he was in by simply existing. He was aware of nothing besides the overwhelming warmth that surrounded him. He danced with many, too many to ever count, in an equally countless number of clubs and bars. Nothing, no one, had captured him like this before. He wasn't sure what love felt like, and while he was certain most of this emotion was lusting, there was a funny tickling at the back of his mind. This man is different, it spoke, and in his haze he listened.

_Creole Lady Marmalade, ooh yes-a_

The song ended. A brief pause ensued as all movement ceased. A question nagged at the back of his mind, tugged at his consciousness until he voiced his first words of the evening. A voice like satin and silk, he had. It suited him very well. "Who are you?" was the tender inquiry, speaking as if a loud voice just might shatter the moment. A small quirk of pale lips was his answer. Zeus had captured his butterfly.

"Call me Zeus." Replied a confident voice, and though not spoken in the same delicate tone, was reasonably quiet. His voice sounded more like well-rounded stone; marble, maybe. Blue eyes flickered up and down the expanse of his chest with a small thoughtful frown. "Hm?"

"An alias… why?"

"Real names are dangerous, when you're me." He smiled again, even if it was only a small twitch in the corner of his lips. He noticed, after all, how could he not? He'd been staring at this man, without fail, since their eyes first met. There was another question on his lips, however this time it was answered before he asked. "Later, maybe."

"Later," he repeated, not oblivious to the underlying meaning of that particular exchange of words. 'Later' held a promise that would not be broken. However, in this unspoken contract a contribution would have to be made on his part. He gladly finalized it with a signature. "You can call me Gany." _The waves keep on crashing on me for some reason_.

For a moment he couldn't tell where it had come from, these misplaced words, at first mistaking it for a thought of his own, until realizing the speakers had begun to blare once again. A hand was extended to him, even though it was a step backwards, since it's owner had to disentangle himself and step back in order to offer it. After all that effort it would have been rude to leave him hanging.

Once again a delicate hand was slipped into Zeus', and it began all over again. He drowned again, and loved it. Loved it as much as the feel of jealous eyes upon him, maybe even more. He'd been waiting for someone all night; someone to do exactly what this man had done. Waiting his whole life, maybe. The girl, she came nowhere near it. Courageous, maybe, but she lacked everything else; skills, passion, mood. The only necessary component she might have had was a bit of lust. He could tell, tell that she was only dancing with him for the novelty. He hated that. He was not someone's plaything, which one took to show-and-tell.

No, he was not a plaything to Zeus. He was an angel to him. He could feel it in the taller man's embrace. The hold was delicate, though his movements held nothing back. Everyone before, they all seemed to think he would break if they touched him. It grew bothersome when one could not find a dance partner for the life of them. He was always too pure, or they were always too lusty, for he was not an easy lay. Rumor had it he was still a virgin. Figure. Strange though, how he already found himself anticipating this 'later' of Zeus'.

This dance, it was somehow different than the last. Possibly because of this new anticipation. Every move seemed to be just the beginning of something much bigger. A thousand new beginnings sprang to life in those short minutes, and in the many minutes that followed. Amidst it all Gany was lost. Lost and did not want to be found again. One dance gave way to many, and the feeling of eyes on him vanished into the oblivion of the strong arms that had mastered him.

The world around him disappeared, and all but that strong scent of cologne ceased to exist. However, as all good things, it had to end sometime. An unfamiliar hand on his shoulder brought him crashing back to reality. It was the hand of the bouncer that was now being pulled away, frightened off by the intense look Zeus was shooting at him.

"E-excuse me sirs, but it's closing time. I think we might have to get you two to leave, before we can get your fans out of here…" There was an embarrassing stutter in his voice. However, unlike Gany, he was not used to so many eyes weighing him down, and at the moment, almost every pair in the room were glaring. At him. Gany puzzled over this glaring for a moment, but that was all Zeus needed to fix the situation.

"Of course." With a gracious smile, fake as it was, he saw the taller man turn briefly to the bouncer as he spoke, before brown eyes once again focused upon his person. "Shall we… go?" He blinked at the inquiry, not so much in surprise that he had asked, but at the fact he had to ask at all. A small nod and they were on their way. The rest of his night passed in a blur of emotions and fleeting touches.

The two had walked out to the car together. Silver was the only thing he remembered about it. The hands, those he remembered. Unlocking the car door. Helping him in. Sliding down the steering wheel. Oh god. He wasn't sure how they made it home without anything happening. Helping him out of the car, inside. Then… all over him. Words, he recalled, in the night. Words kept securely between the two of them by the canopy of the four post bed.

_"Wait…" was the hushed yet urgent murmuring. "Go no further." _

"Why do you stop now?" a frown was evident in his voice, if not on his lips.

"Stop now, if you intend to only send me away in the morning. Fallen for you I have. It would be better to break my heart now, than in the morning when all is said and done. My body has a price, and if you don't know what that is, I shall leave right this moment."

"Oh love, I thought my intentions were clear. My most humble apologies, beautiful one. I thought it was obvious. You captured me the moment you entered the room. How could I break your beautiful heart?"

"Truly?"

"Truly."

More of those beautiful hands, and unmentionable acts better left unsaid. Afterwards, it got hazy again.

_"Will you stay with me? Here, I mean. I can not bare the thought of you not being near." _

"What will I tell my father? I can't just run away."

"You… you can work here. Actually, one of my employees is… quitting, tomorrow."

"Really?" he vaguely recalled his dad nagging at him to stop being a freeloader, and get a job. His dad was never that blatant, but the thought was there.

"Really."

Slowly he shifted beneath satin sheets. He could feel it slide against his skin. These were not his sheets. Where was he? As he slowly cracked an eyelid, bits and pieces of the previous night's events came fluttering back. Dancing at Club Ida. The mysterious man who called himself 'Zeus'. The silver Mercedes. The maroon bed curtains.

With a sleepy sigh he noted the faint puff of air that wafted back at him. Blue eyes finally came into focus, and what they focused upon took his breath away. It was like looking into the mirror. Not in the sense that the sight that met his eyes was a clone, far from it. It was that Gany, for the first time in his life, saw the aura that surrounded him… on someone else. He suddenly felt humbled, to be in the presence of such greatness.

He felt as if his aura had been stolen. Stolen and he loved it. As he waited for his Zeus to awaken nothing else in the world mattered. Not his father, not his new companion's wife, not the girl who had been fired to simply suit a lusting whim of her boss. None of it mattered. He was content to stare at the lovely creature beside him, still in a dreamy haze.

Eyes were a heavy thing to burden someone with. So it was inevitable that the hazel eyes Gany had gladly drowned in slowly began to open…


End file.
